Recruitment and consultancy freeze – exceptions approved – February 2012

1. During the month of January 2012, the following exceptions to the recruitment and consultancy freeze (above £20k) have been considered by the Chief Executive, in his capacity as Accounting Officer.

2. The details are shown below:

| Approval date | Ref: No. & directorate | Summary of application | Consultancy/ recruit | Decision | |---------------|------------------------|------------------------|----------------------|----------| | 7 February 2012 | 164 RPP | Extension of contract to include Scotland, for maintenance and renewals analysis Additional £24,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 7 February 2012 | 165 RME | Impact of business change on a sample firms’ support function costs £42,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 7 February 2012 | 166 EA | Redevelopment of website – preparation of specification and business case £30,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 10 February 2012 | 168 RME | Assessment of capacity allocation and utilisation on capacity constrained parts of GB rail network £75,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 16 February 2012 | 159b RSD | Study of IGC safety rule, risk assessment, analysis of safety – additional requirement for £12,600 (Full value of approval now £37,800) | Consultancy | Approved | | Date | Code | Description | Category | Status | |--------------------|------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------|---------| | 20 February 2012 | 171 | Agency appointments in HR | External recruitment | Approved | | 23 February 2012 | 173 | Merits of independent fares regulation by ORR | Consultancy | Approved | | | RME | £60,000 | | | | 23 February 2012 | 175 | Freight customer survey | Consultancy | Approved | | | RME | £48,000 | | | | 24 February 2012 | 176 | Business intelligence best practice review – additional requirement - £6,500 | Consultancy | Approved | | | RPP | (Full value of approval now £27,600) | | | | 27 February 2012 | 132b | Impact of changes in track access charges on rail freight traffic – additional work - £9,780 | Consultancy | Approved | | | | (Full value of approval now £69,780) | | | | 29 February 2012 | 172 | Head of Engineering and Asset Management | External recruitment | Approved | | | RPP | | | |

3. The Director of Corporate Services approved 3 applications for consultancy \<£20,000 (total value £44,740).